Page 19 of In This Together

Andrea hated herself for allowing melancholy to come over her. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. The whole point was that Hunter was never going to be hers. He couldn’t let her down or hurt her.Could he?A quick, very wrong fling was all they were supposed to have.

She faked nonchalance, waving a hand. ‘I guess I’ll see you later.’

‘Later, kiddo.’

Hunter winked, shrugged on his jacket and left.

Now she wasreallyrunning late and her earlier annoyance at Hannah was mixed with irritation at herself because Hunter was well and truly where he was never supposed to be – under her skin.

She had walked briskly, as fast as her heels would allow, back to her apartment, feeling, and no doubt looking, dishevelled – akajust screwed.

Outside her door, Andrea ran her fingers through her hair, rubbed around her lips in case of smudged lipstick – not that she and Hunter ever kissed much – and prepared to face Hannah, who had probably listened to her voicemail by now.

She took a deep breath and entered her apartment to see Hannah, looking beautiful and refined in one of Andrea’s dresses. The royal-blue garment had a Bardot neckline, finished just above the knee, and hugged Hannah exactly where it should. She had teamed it with a pair of Andrea’s strappy gold scandals and, for a moment, Andrea felt only happiness for her friend.

Hannah came toward her, holding out a full flute of what looked like champagne.

‘I’m sorry and I’m going to fix the presentation first thing in the morning, but let’s not spoil tonight.’

Andrea pouted and gave her friend a frosty stare, then took the glass of champagne, acknowledging the apology with a curt nod.

It had never felt like a challenge having Hannah as a friend and an assistant when they had been working at Sanfia together. It had felt more collaborative then. Sofia, Andrea and Hannah had been a family, doing what they enjoyed. But it was tricky at Stellar. Andrea had more responsibility, especially since her promotion. That brought with it more scope for screwing up. She needed Hannah not to dip her nose in above her station but to remain within the remit of her job description. Andrea needed an assistant.

She also needed her friend. If Hannah hadn’t been on maternity leave, Andrea was sure the mess she was in with Hunter would never have happened. Hannah would have called Andrea out on her bad decisions. And maybe… maybe she had been lonely without Hannah every day.

Trying to keep her office and home life distinct, she clinked her glass against Hannah’s and sipped the champagne.

‘You look great,’ Andrea said, suddenly desperate to spend a real girls’ night with her friend and reveal everything – Hunter, the affair, that she was sleeping with a married man who just happened to be Rosalie’s dad.

‘Take that and go get yourself dressed,’ Hannah said, as ever, the only person who dared to order Andrea around.

‘Okay,’ Andrea said, trying to push thoughts of Hunter from her mind and failing miserably.

Instead, she drained her glass, put it down on the breakfast bar in her open-plan lounge-kitchen-diner and followed the low-level floor lighting toward her bedroom.

Good save,she thought. No one should know about Hunter.

But as she walked away, Hannah said, ‘It’s true, isn’t it?’

If dread could emanate as a physical feeling, Andrea’s stomach would have dropped right out of her and hit the floor. She stopped still, her back to her friend. Her affair with Hunter had gone unnoticed for the four months Hannah had been on maternity leave and, though she knew tongues had been wagging with rumours in the office in the weeks Hannah had been back, Andrea had hoped it would all blow over. Bitterness at her promotion and nothing more.

But here she was, faced with the reality that the woman who knew her better than anyone else in the world, who not only knew but diarised her every move, suspected her affair.

‘I overheard people talking in the office,’ Hannah continued sheepishly. ‘They said you were seeing one of the execs. They said you slept your way to the top… I told them exactly where they could shove their Chinese whispers, that you earned your position and deserved their respect.’

Andrea turned to face her friend across the room. She said nothing but could feel heat rising on her neck where Hunter’s lips had been less than an hour ago.

‘I believe that, Andi. We both know it’s true,’ Hannah reassured her.

Andrea nodded her thanks because her mouth was too dry to form words, but she didn’t feel assured.

‘The thing is, you left me a voicemail more than an hour and a half ago, saying I’d fucked up and you desperately needed those slides to be fixed. Yet, when you walked in here and I told you that I’d fix the presentation first thing in the morning, you didn’t say you’d already done it.’

Andrea heard herself swallow and wondered if Hannah could hear the deep gulp too, as she stood motionless.

‘You’re irritable and sheepish,’ Hannah continued. ‘You’re a big girl, Andi, but be careful. Whoever he is, I’m going to guess you’re not his number one and that’s only going to end one way. He’ll break your heart.’

Fuck you, Hannah. Fuck you and your self-righteousness and your forever romance with the guy who knocked you up in college.

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